Four R.I. colleges make Fiske guide

PROVIDENCE – Brown University, Providence College, the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Rhode Island all are featured schools in the 2013 Fiske Guide to Colleges, which is designed to help students expand their college selection process beyond traditional choices.

The guide, by former New York Times education editor Edward B. Fiske, aims to provide high school students with information on colleges unlimited to local institutions, “pet” schools of parents or guidance counselors, or to provide new insights into schools they may not have been identified as choices based on outdated information.

The Fiske guide includes more than 300 colleges in the United States, Canada and Great Britain.

It is meant to provide a “selective, subjective and systematic” look at schools that will help students select a post-secondary education based on their specific needs, interests and personalities.

In the guide Brown is noted for its “overwhelming number of happy students” and “liberating” open curriculum. URI is included for its “emphasis on innovation and interdisciplinary learning” and RISD is noted for its reputation of being “competitive but not mean spirited” and its specialized library. (More specific information about PC was not immediately available.)

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